Lowell State College was a public college in Lowell, Massachusetts. It was established in 1959 and is the precursor to the University of Massachusetts Lowell. The founding of this new state school was the culmination of decades of institutional growth that began in 1894 with the establishment of Lowell Normal School (a two-year training college for teachers), continued through the transition to the four-year Lowell Teachers College in 1932, and concluded in 1959 with the founding of Lowell State College. From 1959 to 1975, Lowell State College served the region's need for comprehensive public higher education. It was not superseded in this role until the merging of Lowell State College and Lowell Textile Institute into one new organization—University of Lowell and then the University of Ma